Albert Bustamante (1935-2021) American Politician

Name	Albert Garza Bustamante
Age	86 Years
Birth	8 April 1935
Birthplace	8 April 1935, Asherton, Texas, United States
Death	30 November 2021
Deathplace	United States
Profession	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas’s 23rd district
Party	Democratic Party
Burial	Mission Burial Park North San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA
Nationality	American

Albert Garza Bustamante was an American politician

US Congressman. He served in the United States House of Representatives from the 23rd District of Texas from January 3, 1985 to January 3, 1993.

After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army and served two years as a paratrooper. After leaving the military, he attended both San Antonio College and Sul Ross State University, where he earned both his associate and bachelor degrees. He later worked as a teacher at Cooper Junior High School in San Antonio, Texas. From 1968 to 1971, he was an assistant to Rep.

Henry Gonzalez. In 1972, he was elected to be a Bexar County Commissioner. He served in this capacity from 1973 to 1978. He later served as a Bexar County judge from 1979 to 1985. In 1984, he decided to run against Democrat Rep. Abraham Kazen in the party’s primary for Kazen’s seat in Congress. He was successful in both the primary and general election and went on to serve four terms in the House.

In 1992, he was defeated for re-election by Republican Henry Bonilla after facing charges of fraud and racketeering. He was later convicted of accepting bribes and racketeering in 1993 and sentenced to 42 months in prison. After his release in 1998, he left the political arena.

Albert Bustamante Early life and education

Bustamante was born and raised in Asherton, Texas to a family of Mexican migrant workers. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Army, serving for two years as a paratrooper. In 1958, he enrolled in San Antonio College, earning an associate degree. Bustamante then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in education from Sul Ross State University. After earning his degree, he was hired as a teacher at San Antonio’s Cooper Jr. High School.

Albert Bustamante Career

In 1968, Bustamante took a job as an aide to Congressman Henry B. González. In his first run for elective office in 1972, Bustamante was elected as a Bexar County, Texas, Commissioner. He then was elected as a county judge in 1978 and served on the state’s Jail Standard Commission.

Congress

In 1984, Bustamante challenged nine-term incumbent Abraham Kazen in the Democratic primary for Texas’s 23rd congressional district. No Republican had filed in the heavily Democratic, Hispanic-majority district. He defeated Kazen in an upset, all but assuring his election in November. He was reelected three times from this vast district, which spanned 800 miles from his home in San Antonio to El Paso.

While in Congress, he served on the Armed Services Committee. He served on the Procurement and Military Nuclear Systems Subcommittee, the Subcommittee on Energy, and the Natural Resources Subcommittee. In 1987 and 1988, he supported nuclear test ban amendments, and voiced concern for environmental and safety problems in the nation’s nuclear production plants. He played an important role in delaying funding for a Special Isotope Separation project in Idaho.

In 1985, Bustamante was elected president of his Democratic freshman class in the U.S. House of Representatives and was assigned to the Committees on Armed Services and Government Operations.

Bustamante changed his support of the administration’s policy toward Nicaragua. In 1986, he voted to authorize an aid package for the Contras, but in the following two years he voted against Contra aid.

In the 100th United States Congress, Bustamante was assigned to the Select Committee on Hunger. In December 1990, Bustamante became a member of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee.

He was also a member of the House Task Force on Drugs and Crime, in which he advocated for tighter border controls to keep out illegal drugs from Mexico. Bustamante called for deficit reduction, but also believed that more money should be spent on education and health care.

Investigation and conviction

In 1992, Bustamante filed for reelection even as he was investigated for fraud and racketeering. His reelection chances were further hampered by redistricting after the 1990 United States Census, which carved the 28th district out of most of Bustamante’s territory and left a heavily Republican section of western San Antonio in the 23rd. Bustamante’s Republican opponent, popular newscaster Henry Bonilla, criticized Bustamante for neglecting the needs of his constituents, excessive junketeering, and writing 30 bad checks in the House banking scandal. Although Bill Clinton carried the district, Bustamante lost to Bonilla by a 21-point margin, the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent that year.

Bustamante was convicted of accepting bribes and racketeering in 1993 and was sentenced to 42 months in prison.Bustamente was released from prison on February 9, 1998.

Albert Bustamante Personal life and death

Following his release from prison, Bustamante faded from politics. He lived in San Antonio with his wife, Rebecca.

Bustamente’s son, John, a San Antonio-based patent attorney, was an unsuccessful candidate for Texas’s 23rd congressional district in the 2012 elections.

Bustamante died following a long illness on November 30, 2021, at the age of 86.